1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosed system generally relates to a lever for removably mounting one or more printer supply cartridges in a printer. In particular, this system relates to a latching mechanism for removably securing one or more ink cartridges in an inkjet printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inkjet printer typically includes one or more printheads and their corresponding ink cartridges. Each printhead includes an ink inlet that is connected to an ink cartridge and an array of drop ejectors, each ejector consisting of an ink pressurization chamber, an ejecting actuator and a nozzle through which droplets of ink are ejected. The ejecting actuator can be one of various types, including a heater that vaporizes some of the ink in the pressurization chamber to propel a droplet out of the orifice, or a piezoelectric device which changes the wall geometry of the chamber to generate a pressure wave that ejects a droplet. The droplets are typically directed toward paper or other recording medium to produce an image according to image data that is converted into electronic firing pulses for the drop ejectors as the recording medium is moved relative to the printhead.
One common type of inkjet printer uses a replaceable ink cartridge which contains a cartridge body, a felt, and a supply of ink contained within the ink cartridge. The print cartridge is intended for single-use and, when the initial supply of ink is depleted, the ink cartridge is disposed of and a new ink cartridge is installed. However, frequent replacement of the print cartridge results in both a relatively high operating cost and increased environmental waste.
Remanufacturers have overcome many challenges to enable re-use of ink cartridges, thereby reducing operating cost and environmental waste. An exemplary challenge is an ink cartridge having a lever and a latch having a spring element integrally molded into an ink cartridge. The latch, in combination with other features of the ink cartridge, provides positive engagement of the ink cartridge into an ink cartridge receiver.
The lever, which is integrally molded, was designed for single-use thereby suffering from permanent deformation by the end of a single-use lifetime, resulting in a compromised engagement of the latch into the ink cartridge receiver. What is needed is an improvement to an ink cartridge having an integrally molded latch to enable use beyond a single-use life, including a latch which has suffered from permanent deformation.